Rohingya repatriation could not be started because of the lack of cordiality of the Myanmar government, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Monday.

“Not a single Rohingya could be repatriated in the last three and a half years as Myanmar brought up one issue after the other,” he told reporters in Rangamati after inaugurating Bangabandhu Adventure Festival marking the birth centenary of Bangladesh’s founding father.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya men, women and children fled to Bangladesh from their homeland in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after the military launched a brutal offensive targeting the mainly Muslim ethnic minority.

State-sponsored discrimination against the Rohingyas stretches back decades. Myanmar does not recognise them as citizens despite having lived in the country for generations. The country denies them basic rights and many of them are forced to live in cramped camps.

ALSO READ THIS: BANGLADESH: ROHINGYA REFUGEE KILLED IN RIVAL CLASHES

Bangladesh and Myanmar held several rounds of talks for the discussions could not be advanced due to election and Covid-19 outbreak. Foreign Minister Momen said a repatriation talk with Myanmar is scheduled for Jan 19 at the mediation of China.

Covid-19 vaccination

Replying to a question, the minister said India had repeatedly assured that they would give Bangladesh Covid-19 vaccine whenever they would use them.

“This decision came from the highest level of the Indian government. We want to believe in India. We’ve had talks with them on many occasions and they have assured us (of providing the vaccine),” he said.

Minister Momen said Bangladesh had held talks with other countries and they, too, assured of providing vaccines.

Bangladesh has so far confirmed 523,302 cases with 7,803 fatalities. The country reported its first cases on March 8 last year and the first death on March 18.

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